A blog about business in Fort Worth and North Texas, by the staff of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

01/18/2013

Photo booths are Stock Show traditions

A pair of booths flank the doorway into the Fort Worth Stock Show's sheep barn, where for more than a quarter century families have stopped for photos.

For the 27th year, Pictures With The Baby Animals and Pictures On The Pony are seasonal money makers for James Milam, who raises Shetland ponies and other animals on an eight-acre family ranch in North Richland Hills.

"It makes us a living," he said. "I've ranched all my life and this beats punching a time clock."

Between now and the Feb. 9 end of the show more than 2,000 framed prints of children riding ponies or sitting on hay bales with baby goats will leave Milam's booths in the hands of proud parents.

Two ponies take day-long turns and about 10 kids from 12 days to 2 months old are rotated so they're always frisky, Milam said.

"We do pony rides for church functions with the same Shetlands we use for pictures," he said. "But at the end of the show I either sell the kids or give them away, because I don't do goats."